I just want to ask again, can anyone tell me how to change a map from ZDoom to Boom? Also can someone explain the "silent teleporter" trick as I've found a magnificent way for some Lost Souls to enter the fight and it needs to be a silent entry.

Fuzzy, I would imagine there are no limits to number of maps, I reckon kildeth will be happy to go for the full megawad if possible.

@Fuzzyfireball - Feel free to donate anything you like. I'm taking any contribution at this stage since this project is so early in it's development. Thanks for the submissions!

@MajorRawne - Sorry I don't know how to change a map's format...yet. But, if you have trouble you can give us the ZDoom format level and I'll see if I can do something about it, as I have a level I want to change the format of as well.

@Adun - I can put you down as both a tester and a mapper. Everyone is free to join at this stage.

@Major Rawne - I think I've worked out how to change the format of your level. If you are using Doom Builder 2, press F2 to get to 'Map Options', and then change the Game Configuration from 'ZDoom (Doom in Hexen format)' to simply 'Doom 2'. Make sure everything still works as intended and tweak things if necessary, then your level should be set in the right format for the project.

Edit: I think you have to change something small about the level (like a vertice repositioning) after the configuration change to stop the level falling into a heap of lines. That and you may have to fix a lot of linedef actions up cause they seem to change a lot across formats.

Thanks, kildeth. So I did a little playtesting, but I don't really know where to leave feedback this time, so I'll just leave it here.

Hazard Facility:
Great non-linear level but lacks in monsters, so I was able to clear it easily. Good layout and design. I assume that this is intended for an earlier level in the WAD. Nice secret design but some maybe too cryptic (see: nukage and berserk secrets) in my opinion. Some doors aren't lower unpegged. You took care to make sure that players can access every visible part of the level.

Suspend:
Linear, slaughterish sort of level. Great level of detail. Doesn't use any keys. Sort of health starved in my runs, not sure if this is an issue. Rockets and energy cells placed but no weapons to use them, rendering them pointless. Single secret in a disappointingly obvious location. Couple more well-hidden secrets would be nice. Doors aren't lower unpegged. The last couple rooms have areas that are not accessible but I would like to be able to reach them.

@Adun, feedback in this thread is just fine. There's nowhere else to put it at the moment.

I don't think I lower unpegged any of the doors in Hazard Facility as I've heard others say that door pegging is simply a stylistic choice and that it didn't really matter either way so I just left the doors alone (might change that though in a slight update). The level sort of reflects myself as a player I reckon. Good at secret hunting but not so good at slaughtering. I don't think the level would benefit from more monsters, the design is too Doom 1-ish and it would overcrowd the place too much. I wanted to make the secrets more difficult than simply finding the discoloured wall cause I rarely miss those and thus it gets boring when there are too many secrets like that. I wanted to make secrets that would be stumbled upon by accident and surprise the player. The berzerk room can be opened by accident when one is shooting imps and sargeants (and possibly a hell knight) from the barrel room, occasionally one bullet will hit the door through the window. The nukage secret can be accessed when one accidentally slips into the nukage and starts clicking on every wall for a way out.

We're only using default Doom 2 textures and all wads are to be in standard Doom 2 format, in other words limit-removing vanilla. My reasoning is that using only the standard stuff makes it easier for new Doom mappers to learn the ropes without getting too technical from the beginning.

As for music... I honestly haven't thought of that yet. I suppose we could allow new music if people are willing to create it, as well as rearrange existing Doom II music to fit the levels better. If you do add music, make sure it is in .MUS format though. I want to keep this project relatively simple and solid without too many unnecessary additions.

@Major Rawne - I think I've figured out how to do the silent teleporter trick. Linedefs can have a setting where they 'block sound'. If you have all sound blocking linedefs around a teleport destination then you shouldn't be able to hear whatever teleports in.

@Alwaysdoomed - I might have picked a bad pair of screenshots as I've tried to maintain some essence of your original work. I might get a little carried away here and there and plan on adding a few extra rooms but when I do I'll make sure the changes look awesome.

More shots of Sensorium in comparison to Alwaysdoomed's original work:

Fuzzyfireball - I'm just downloading your "scraps" to see what I've got; maps will be credited to "Fuzzyfireball and Major Rawne", and may be renamed if any names currently exist. I will keep the originals safe on my HDD. Originals may deviate from the texturing and theme of the originals where absolutely necessary, but will definitely be recognisable to the original author. I just have to say this to avoid any misunderstandings, but don't worry, it'll work out :)

Everyone else - excellent screenies, and to our new members or potential new members, welcome aboard. :)

MajorRawne said:
Fuzzyfireball - I'm just downloading your "scraps" to see what I've got; maps will be credited to "Fuzzyfireball and Major Rawne", and may be renamed if any names currently exist. I will keep the originals safe on my HDD. Originals may deviate from the texturing and theme of the originals where absolutely necessary, but will definitely be recognisable to the original author. I just have to say this to avoid any misunderstandings, but don't worry, it'll work out :)

They didn't get much work done on them at all, so feel free to change whatever you want.

Hi mate, I think having looked around the scraps I can combine them into one or two maps, rather than build three entire maps around the three scraps. The outdoor map in particular would make a good secret area, or the final segment of a nightmarish, Hell Revealed style map.

I've simply copy-pasted my Hush map into Boom and although I need to go through it re-texturing certain areas and recreating doors and traps, it's not as bad as expected. Will try the silent teleporter trick Kildeth, thanks.

EDIT: I need to know what kind of difficulty level to go for. Perhaps the first post can be updated with provisional map slots, provisional mappers and provisional map names? :)

Since it's provisional at this point the maps can simply be re-ordered as required. Should we go for an overall "feel" such as Alien Vendetta with its incredible architecture, Hell Revealed with its high difficulty or Requiem for just having high standards?

I think we should go for the 'Requiem' style and just build a series of competent maps that are fun to play. We don't have to knock ourselves out, just make sure everything is up to the standard of the 2 finished levels so far and everything should be good.
As for difficulty, it depends on where you want your map to go in the wad, I would suggest making it no easier than Hazard Facility as that is likely to be one of the first levels. If it's a hell level, make it more difficult as that would suggest that it will appear near the end of the wad.

A lot of these levels are either unfinished scraps or works I have heard little from so most of the placings are based on what's in my imagination at the moment rather than what's actually there. Hush looks like it would be a good intro to the city level episode, and one of the scrap levels had a Cyberdemon in it so I was thinking that it could be placed as a finale to the Earth levels as MAP20. Sensorium might make a good opener to the hell series of levels, and Inferno's Light is a hellish name so it would probably fit there also, even though I've only heard mention of the level name and do not know what the level is actually like.

What you've done looks good so far, but I think it would benefit greatly from some lighting variation coupled with some extra detailing where you have boxy walls and floors with not much action happening in terms of architecture. Keep at it :)

Lite Sparkle said:
As promised some screens, I know it isn't much that is shown here, but I like to post a Screenshot of an area when I think it's done.

(Yeah, It's tested in Zdoom, but the used format is just standard DOOM2, so you could just launch it with Doom95)

Okay, this is to everyone: please please please test the map in PrBoom+. There are certain quirks and small-scale differences concerning Zdoom that can have a bigger effect on gameplay. See Requiem Map04 as an example (it's possible to trigger switches without walking over important linedefs). What's more, infinitely tall actors that players could run over in Zdoom may hinder movement in other ports.

Also, I'd suggest a bit more color or at lease texture variation in the posted screens, as well as applying some love to the ceilings :)